Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Sitting here in a 'boring heaven' waiting to go back to the exciting 'hell'

There's an expression that expat teachers use to describe the love-hate dichotomy that develops between foreign teachers and Korea; it goes something like this, "(home country) is a boring heaven, and Korea is an exciting hell."

Right now I'm sitting in a boring heaven back in the basement room of my parent's place where I lived during university--and I'm bored out of my skull.

Now please don't misunderstand me and think that I'm saying I hate Korea, or that Korea is 'hell' and reply with a vehement, "You hate Korea!" . . . I wouldn't have stayed in Korea past my first year if I didn't like it (well, a lot of things about it anyway).

I think I should take a moment here and clear up something for people (both Korean and other) who believe that "understand" means 'agree'--it doesn't. Understand means "to perceive the meaning of; grasp the idea of; comprehend." I can't count the number of times I've experienced people getting pissed with me because I say I understand what they're saying but don't agree with it. You CAN understand something and still not agree with it. I understand Rastafarianism (I actually met a real Rastafarian when I was 17 years old on a missions project in Jamaica--but that's a story for another time, lol) but that doesn't mean I agree with it. I understand Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" but that doesn't mean I agree with it. I think I've made my point.

Getting back to the 'boring heaven-exciting hell' topic . . . there are some individuals (see here for an example) who really should leave Korea but don't and they stay for various reasons none of which I can really say are good. There's constructive criticism and then there's venomous putrid bile that pours out of the spirit that stays in a place that is not where it should be. Some people are just not meant to live overseas in an Asian country for extended periods of time--it's that simple.

For me, I think I have one more year, maybe two, in me to live and teach in Korea. After that it's time to move on to something new, something challenging, and something that will help me grow as a human being--that, and keep me from become BORED like I am right now.

So due to my extremely bored condition I decided to go for a walk, get some doughnuts from the holy shrine of coffee and doughnuts (Tim Hortons), and snap a few pics. The first one was taken just outside my parents' place.

Since there's pretty much absolutely nothing interesting to see along this road I messed with the shutter speed . . . not bad. I did see a wild turkey once walking along the road and it scared the crap out of me cause I had no idea what it was . . . unfortunately I think he's either been eaten or moved to another location.

This pic is kind of cool cause I think a little bit of hand shake gave the street lamp light some streaking.

And then I arrived at Timmy's . . .

Gas for the car, gas for the body--also known as coffee.

I wanted to mess around in here and take more shots but I thought the dude behind the counter might get upset with me . . . so there's just the one pic.

Alright, time to go see if there's anything interesting on TV, and read blogs while I wait to get tired enough to go to sleep.

About Me

My name is Jason and I am a 34-year-old Canadian English instructor. I have been living and teaching in South Korea since March, 2005. This blog is about how I see life in Korea, and Korean culture. I will post pictures and video as often as possible. I will also write about Korean novels and movies.